MWGblog

Do yourself a favor and make sure to catch Mr. Warmth: The Don Rickles Project while it is running on HBO. [Schedule] I’ve seen this film by John Landis 3 times now, it is hilarious! Don Rickles is certainly one of a kind. I don’t think they make them like that anymore. Young or old, you’ll be rolling in your seat with laughter. [Variety review]

In true High Fidelity style: Top Five Films people have never seen. No AFI Top 100 allowed. No Citizen Kane, Seven Samurai, Godfather, The Searchers or The Wild Bunch etc., but the other amazing films you assume people have never seen. Dig deep! I hope to send some folks to Netflix/Blockbuster.

• Barry Lyndon
• Touch of Evil
• Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia
• Paris, Texas
• Fitzcarraldo

This was tough, I could list at least a hundred more. My head is spinning!

Bonus round. The one great film everyone has missed and only the geekiest of film fans has sought out:

Pat Garret and Billy The Kid

Also, F for Fake – sorry couldn’t resist!

I was browsing books on Amazon and came across this warning:

Warning!*

This book contains the following:

Unsafe use of powerful firearms in combination with explosives

Cultivation of illegal crops

Impressionable minors being exposed to illicit activities

Piloting of automobiles under impaired conditions

Transporting large sums of cash across national borders

*Stunts performed in this book were undertaken by professionals. Do not attempt them at home.

Tongue in cheek I’,m sure. Funny…

“Nick, put your lightsaber away before going outside.”

I saw this limited edition book, Gonzo, a few months back at Book Soup on Sunset. I didn’t buy it at the time but as a Hunter S. Thompson fan I finally succumbed and bit the bullet today. [They also have a more affordable standard print edition.]

Back in 2005, I bought a first edition copy of the Taschen book: The Stanley Kubrick Archives. It is now one of my most prized possessions, the most gorgeous book I have ever owned. I find myself constantly going back to use/read it. On a whim, I looked it up on Amazon today. It is now going for $600+ dollars. While I have no intention of selling my copy – it struck me that my Kubrick book has out-performed the stock market in the last few years. Quality never disappoints. [Original post]

I was doing some some year-end cleaning this weekend. One of the projects was my book shelves. As I was sorting through the books to donate to Good Will I discovered that I have a complete set of original, first edition printings of Brett Easton Ellis’ Less Than Zero, The Rules of Attraction and American Psycho. Given all the controversy surrounding American Psycho, including being banned by booksellers and libraries, I’ll be hanging on to these. Yeah, I grew up in the Eighties…

I saw a great documentary on Stanley Kubrick a few days ago. Since then, a single quote has rattled around in my head.

Jack Nicholson on Stanley Kubrick:

Everybody pretty much acknowledges he’s “The Man”… and… I still feel that underates him.

Considering the source, could that just be the single coolest quote ever?

One of the cool things about having a dedicated theater in the house is I get to make a big deal out of watching films with my sons. I am a film buff, so for me – this is heaven! We get popcorn, sodas and take our seats. Since they are still young (6 & 3) I choose the films carefully. Today we watched The Wizard of Oz. It was amazing to me how this film from almost 70 years ago struck my boys. They loved it! What a masterpiece. Just more proof that great story telling is at the core of good film. As you know, “There’s no place like home…”

I have been a life long fan of Hunter S. Thompson. After the success of my last call for help, once again, I am reaching out to my readers. For years I have been looking for a rather iconic shirt that Hunter S. Thompson had – pictured here on the cover of this biography by E. Jean Carroll (click for larger image). Does anyone know where you can get this shirt/jacket? I guess you’d describe it as red, khaki, mustard, green and blue corduroy. I assume some small specialty hunting shop somewhere sells it, but I have yet to find it. If I can buy it or have it made – either way, I am committed. Any help is greatly appreciated.

UPDATE: – Thanks for the emails. So far, it looks like no one knows where you can get this shirt/jacket. I’ll probably have to have it custom made. I am working on seeing if I can contact the costume designer from the film Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas; they reproduced the shirt for some scenes at the Polo Lounge when Johhny Depp played Hunter. I assume they used the original as source material. Yes, I can be a bit obsessive. While I am at it, anyone else want one?